How to spring clean your smartphone

Spring is finally on the way. But while you're busy spring-cleaning your home, have you thought about giving your smartphone a little TLC as well?

After all, it regularly gets covered in dirty fingerprints and is probably cluttered up with unused apps and files. Here, the GHI shares its top tips for keeping your tech tidy.

Clean the screen

Most Smartphone touchscreens have an oleophobic coating that is supposed to stop fingerprints being left on them. This coating can be damaged by cleaning fluids so always clean your screen with a micro-fibre cloth that will remove and retain the dirt. Use a circular motion to avoid scratching the screen. Don't forget to clean your camera lens, too, to avoid blurry pictures. Lakeland offers a selection of micro-fibre cloths.

Backing up your data regularly is important, so if you lose your phone you won't lose all your photos, contacts and apps with it. Apple iPhone users should head to Settings and select their name. From here tap iCloud and then select iCloud Backup. Make sure iCloud Backup is switched on and press Back Up Now to ensure your phone is backed-up straight away (rather than waiting for the automatic backup that happens overnight when the phone is connected to wi-fi and is charging)

If you have a Google Android smartphone, open the Settings app and select Backup & Reset and make sure Backup to Google Drive is selected. It's worth noting that unless you have a Google Pixel smartphone, your text messages won't be backed up.

Delete unwanted files

You throw old paperwork that's no longer needed in the bin, so why not remove unwanted files from your phone as well? If you've got an Android phone, head to the Downloads folder and delete anything you no longer need. Those with an iPhone should open the Files app and deleted anything that's not needed anymore.

Remove unused apps

There are probably apps on your phone that you no longer use, whether it's a game you played once or a banking app for your previous current account. Remove these to free up space on your phone.

If you've got an iPhone, press and hold one of the apps for a few seconds. All of the apps on the Home screen will begin to wobble and an 'x' will appear in the left-hand corner of the app icon. Click the one you want to remove and a warning will appear on the screen. Click Delete and the app will be removed from your phone. To stop the apps wobbling, press the Home button.

Google Android users should head to Settings followed by Apps and then select the app they want to remove. From the screen displayed, click Uninstall.

Install system updates

If you keep getting alerts on your phone about a system update, then it's time to bite the bullet and apply it. These updates fix any bugs in the phone and make it run more smoothly, so they are important to install.

On an Apple iPhone, go to Settings > General > Software Update and then, if you need to apply an update, you'll be given the option to start installing it.

On a Google Android phone, open Settings > About Phone > System Updates and follow the on-screen instructions. It's worth noting that before you start installing any system update, you should make sure your phone is backed up just in case anything goes wrong.